Working out on a budget of $0 any tips?

I'm currently trapped in Australia with little money and a while to go before I get back on the travelling route and into a job.

I'm fed up of feeling like shit all of the time and want to use the opportunity of doing nothing to get myself fit and healthy and also bulk up a bit.

I'm not overweight, infact I'm probably underweight. I'm 6ft tall but only 10 stone in weight.

I can barely run without being out of breath in minutes, I have no definition to my body at all.

I really want to change myself for the better. Where do I start?

I've been doing push ups everyday for 2 weeks. At first I could only do 5-10 but it's steadily increasing to the 15-20 mark before I was too tired to carry on, push ups also make me out of breath too, very quickly. Even though they're getting easier which must mean my muscles are growing, I'm not seeing any physical changes.

Sit ups have always been a breeze for me, even though I don't have much body fat they don't seem to be making much of a difference.

My diet is pretty good, I have dry toast for breakfast with white tea, usually skip lunch as I'm often busy but my evening meal is always balanced with vegetables and meat.

I'm thinking of eating as many eggs as possible, I've done some research and they seem to be an excellent source of protein with little risk of OD'ing on fat and cholesterol.

Money is my biggest problem, I can't afford a gym, protein shakes, weights or any specialist gear, I'm not really even in control of what I can buy to eat.

In a nutshell I want to get built up and physically fit asap, I know it takes time but I have the free time to really push myself beyond the average person.

Also I've heard that emphasis on Cardio can have a negative affect on muscle building...is this true? If so how do I balance it?

 

I just started in with a personal trainer to help better myself for speed skating.

From what I've learned so far - Cardio is great when it's not at the expense of muscle. You will lose weight with cardio for sure, but it can be muscle weight too which is bad. The secret is in how much you do. I do not know the magic amount, but what I am trying to say is don't do JUST cardio.

I would recommend you google "crossfit" and learn why working out as a "jack of all trades" and using muscle confusion is superior in becoming "fit"

I'll PM you an idea I have that might help you out.

 

Haven't considered the first two. The second two have been my objective for the past two months. Getting a bar job in Sydney is practically impossible, there seems to be so much competition and they favour female bar staff for obvious reasons.

I have 6 years worth of bar/restaurant and waiting experience but after doing countless trials and interviews in this city only to end up with nothing I'm giving the middle finger to Australia's hospitality industry.

 

www.Bodybuilding.com is your friend.

Everything you need to know about nutrition, exercises and supplements.

I've gained almost 20 pounds the last year from using this site

 

i don't think twinfy wants to body build, just to get fit! The best ways, and almost zero cost are; keep doing flexes pushups and similar. Try and find an amatorial team to play with.

Soccer, basketball and such provide great training (running, breath, resistance and athletics flexibility) and will make so you won't be breathless in a short while. I'm you're not a veggie, red meat is really helpful too.

 

Actually I'm trying to do both. Which is where I'm having issues, general consensus seems to be that Cardio impacts muscle building.

 

I had that experience with cardio.

After 3 months of it my weight didnt change but suddenly I could no longer fit in my pants because of the leg muscles.

 

Well there's A LOT you can do without weights or a gym, just using the own weight of your body. I train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and we do lots of heavy training without any props, there are a lot of things you can do, tons of variations of abs/push ups/squats, etc, along with isometric excersises, and it would be good if you can keep a good balance of aerobic and anaerobic excersises. Aerobic training will give you the stamina to push it even further in anaerobic and withstand more pressure/weight.
You can also adjust your diet to get a better result, by starting the day high on carbs and decreasing as the day passes, usually having a dinner rich in proteins and fibers, to repair the broken fibers/tissues from the day's training.
The way you warm up has also a lot to do, I use a 5 min abs set which fires up the whole body temperature and allows you to push yourself up to the limit without the risk of injury (because of a proper warm up).
Anyway, PM me or hit me on Facebook or MSN/AIM/Skype if you want some help, depending on the days you have available for training you can come up with a nice routine.

 

Got some funds coming in from my iPhone app sales on a regular basis but until recently sales have been poor.

Have a ski season and farm work lined up for the next few months too but for the next 3 weeks I have about $20 to my name.

Not the best situation to be in right now.

I left Korea Nov. '08 never went back and never will.

 

It just takes time to go from not being able to do more than 10 or 20 pushups to having fairly decent muscle definition. It's probably best to get yourself into somewhat decent phsycial shape before you start attempting to pack on real muscle.

If you're underweight you'll probaby need to be taking in about 3000 calories a day, coupled with normal body weight and free weight exercises, which obviously is going to cost money.

I'd just stick to basic exercises and calisthenics, everyday, for at least 6 months. Outwardly you might not notice a huge amount of change, but by that time you should be able to do pushups and pullups with ease.

Looking the part is great too, but I'm pretty sure you'll feel noticeably healthier if you stick to just plan old exercises for more than a couple months. Once you really get use to it it becomes kind of addictive and you'll probaly wonder how you could have ever gone a day without exercising at all.

 

I thought you wanted to go back for a new start, hopefully supposed to be a better one?

But back to topic, I think the first thing you should think of if you're actually underweight is the right nutrition. Get yourself some proteins, eat lots of noodles & milk products. Parallel to that start working out, i.e. by sit-ups with weights. Lift something heavy (for instance an Xbox, lol) of 5-10kg and start doing sit-ups, as many as you can. Do it everyday and at least your abdominal muscles will thank you.

There are many other excercises that can be done without any spending of money being involved, just google a bit and maybe visit bodybuilding.com and ask for help (never been there though, so it's no personal recommendation by me)

 

mmm

dips,pull ups, lounges, push ups, mmmmm run.

 

and with push ups.. don't do alot you'll look like a skinny bitch, try to elevate your legs to make it harder.

 

If you want muscle, eat a lot [not to many fat], do a lot of weight lifting with few sets [4 sets of 8 rep] and the minimum cardio exercise to keep things running. You might get some fat but you will built up muscle.

If you want to get the six-pack, you do a lot of cardio [and i mean lot, like running a hour or so], eat small portions of healthy food plus meat for the muscles because they will be losing weight also.

Finally, those two, they cannot be combined, muscles or six-pack, if you want both, you must train yourself in periods, like muscle the winter months and fitness the summer.

 

Google around for body weight. I think a $0 budget would be difficult, but for < $30 you can get some dope shit.

1: resistance bands
2: jump rope (protip: buy tight underwear. )
3: push-up "stand" thingy

I've found the above help a lot. Other than that, go jogging, but depending on your stature you might get too skinny.

 

OK, but whats your AGE?

Funny nobody asked for that, anyways, if you want to put on some weight thats easy, just live at mcdonalds.

BTW, what happened in korea that was so bad? you didnt go north did you?!